Prompts from Dustbowl
by Beff
Summary: Current Chap: BLU team. 100 prompts pulled from DA, will feature all the boys. Starting off a little random, but will all be connected. Beware - more than a smidge fluffy in places. Rating for later. Mostly BLU-centric.
1. Introduction

Prompt – (1) Introduction – 1/100  
Characters – all.  
Word count – 811  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Introduction

Nine men clad in blue boarded a train to a place they knew only as Dustbowl. They met on the train for the first time, each man shuffling onto the chartered coach with their single allowed suitcase in tow. A radio played in the background, and the car was austere in its décor. Some of the men were already in their new uniforms, some of which had been already modified to suit its owner's preferences, tied together only by the common coloration. They sat in their seats, trying to avoid eye contact, all possessing at least a measure of trepidation.

At least until the rail-thin young man with a wide open face and big green eyes began shouting at the innocent radio. "Sox and the Yankees, man!" he pumped his fist, the twang of Boston's south side coloring his words. The ice now broken, the rest of the men began introductions, by job description, as required per contract.

Heavy was a giant of a man with a thick Russian accent, yet carefully modulated his behavior around some of the more skittish members of the team. His shaved skull was the enormous, and his legs were as big around as Demo's waist, yet when he smiled he was reminiscent of a giant (teddy) bear.

Demo was rambunctious; pulling swigs of some dark alcohol he called "Scrumpy" from a flask, regaling the others with takes of some monster in Loch Ness and of how he lost his eye. His other eye remained clear though, regardless of the amount of liquor he imbibed.

Sniper was a novelty, being from Australia, as with his kukri. Scout was especially impressed with the blade, given it was nearly the same size as himself. He, too, had stories to tell, and promised a night of ghost stories around a campfire in the not-too-distant future. He indicated that he didn't often associate with groups in general, but that this group had caught his fancy.

Medic was in his mid-twenties at most, far younger than most others of his class. He had dark circles under his eyes, and came across as relatively timid. Soldier had given him a hard look after discovering the German's origins, but the younger man was forthcoming. "I don't remember zhe war," he confessed, his German accent faint and seemed to only come out when he was distressed. "My mother was German, but my father was a Polish Jew. We defected while I was still a babe-in-arms, and made it to England." Soldier had still looked skeptical, but had relaxed visibly after the revelation.

Other than his intense dislike of Nazis, Soldier was certifiably mad. He held his shovel for the entire ride, occasionally pausing his conversation with it to interject comments to his teammates. He would look up, look around (with his helmet covering his eyes), then go back to his mutterings.

Spy looked downright spiffy in his blue pinstriped suit, impeccably pressed. Without his mask on, he looked benignly unremarkable, like any person on the street. With the mask on, it was the difference between night and day – his entire aura became darker, more sinister. He grinned widely at his team, and began navigating conversations in Russian, German, and technophile.

Engineer (or Engie, as Scout immediately dubbed him) appreciated the gesture that Spy made, since most of his technical knowledge went clear over the heads of the others. After a while, he pulled out a blueprint sheet and began scribbling notes, occasionally reaching up to push his goggles farther up his helmet.

Scout spent the entire ride chattering to random people, being just short of annoying. He was the youngest of the group by a few years, but by the time the train pulled into the next station, everyone felt as if they had grown up with the young man. His exuberance for life in general amused the older men, bringing secret smiles to their faces.

The final member of the group began the trip with what looked like a hazmat suit pulled up to his waist and a pullover sweatshirt, face buried in the shadow of the hood. "So what's your job, mate?" Sniper asked, polishing the stock of his sniper rifle. "Pyro," the shorter man (a few hairs shorter than Engie) replied, hesitantly pushing his hood back. A thick, ropey scar, white with age, ran down the left side of his face, starting just below his eye, tracing his jaw line, and then plunging down his neck and beneath his shirt. He did his best not to look nervous, but his young face, red hair and freckles did anything but discourage that.

Scout succeeded in interrupting the situation by nearly jumping into him. "Hey man, how do you feel about the Sox this season?"

Folding his arms across his chest, Pyro's simple reply of "Dodgers" set off a new round of discussion.


	2. Rivalry

Prompt – (4) Rivalry – 2/100  
Characters – RED and BLU  
Word count – 367  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Rivalry

A week and a half after arriving at Dustbowl, the RED team arrived. No one paid much mind to the presence on the opposite side of the field until the annoucenement came through.

Nine men in red and nine men in blue met exactly halfway between the two bases the next day. Lined up by class, each man peered at their counterpart. Hands were shaken, introductions exchanged. Contract details were discussed.

Per contract stipulations, battles were to be conducted every day unless prior arrangements existed. Every Saturady and Sunday were off-days. Whichever company's team won had market supremacy for the next business day. The men all agreed that it was one hell of a way to do business, but at least it paid well. With the respawn system the two companies had somehow managed to silmantaneous develop, there was no real concern, at least according to the Announcer. Sure, they had all been warned that respawning would hurt, and that it wouldn't work during a ceasefire, or outside a certain range – but that was ok. During the week, they'd try to pummel the tar out of one another, but any other time it was within contractual bounds to be friendly with their counterparts.

The two Scouts had gone off elsewhere while everyone else discussed the oddities of their contracts. Curious after a while as to what the two young men were up to, BLU Pyro and RED Sniper began hunting around for the pair.

Sniper doubled over laughing when they were located.

They stood on opposite ends of the alleyway leading into what was being called Dustbowl 3.2 (who knew why), glaring down at their counterpart. Each armed with a bat and a bal, they were hitting back and forth, trying to hit the other with their projectile.

Distracted by Sniper's chortling, BLU Scout went down in a heap as the ball bounced up off his skull. Pyro caught it in their air, laughing himself as the RED Scout threw his arms out, puffed his skinny chest up, and began taunting his achievement.

Sniper crouched by the crumpled Scout, trying to keep a straight face, and failed as "It's so on," came from the downed young man.

* * *

Name that achievement.


	3. Gateway

Prompt – (8) Gateway – 3/100  
Characters – BLU Heavy, Medic  
Word count – 128  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Gateway

The countdown continued, and the BLU medic shifted anxiously. Yesterday had been horrendous on the battlefield, to say the least. He had dropped no less than six ubers , and had been so thoroughly dominated by the RED Sniper and Spy that he had began to dread even exiting the spawn room.

His medigun began to crackle, reaching it's full charge with a scant handful of seconds before setup time was done. Heavy, his current target, turned and grinned widely at him. "Do not worry, Doktor. Stay behind me, lettle man, and we put RED into places, da?"

Somewhat warmed by his companion's concern (at least, that's what he chose to classify it as), Medic nodded and prepared to begin sprinting as soon as the gate went up.

* * *

Yeah, I know. It's short.


	4. Making History

Prompt – (3) Making History – (4/100)  
Characters – BLU Scout, Demo  
Word count – 110  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Making History

Scout was nearly dancing besides Engie's dispenser as Demo returned for ammo, the faint crackling of the uber still audible.

"Yo man, that was awesome!" the young man bounced on the balls of his feet, his bat beating a tattoo against the top of Engie's poor machine.

Demo frowned. "What'd I do, lad?" He chose not to mention that hitting the dispenser with any tool other than a wrench was paramount to sacrilege, at least according to their Engineer.

"You didn't realize? Man, you took out their entire team, their sentry nest, _and_ their dispenser with that uber! No one has ever done that much damage in one shot before!"


	5. Burning

Prompt – (38) Burning - (5/100)  
Characters – BLU Soldier, Pyro  
Word count – 178  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Burning

"Fire, fire, _fire_!"

Soldier somehow managed to give the word three completely different inflections as he yelled.

Pyro heard his shouts across the field, looking up to see the pillar engulfing the figure that was undoubtedly the Soldier.

Je jumped up from where he had been beating RED's teleporter with his sledgehammer (he had named it "Homewrecker" to piss Engie off) and reached for his flamethrower.

Soldier was running in circles, arms up in the air waving wildly, beginning to panic more as the flames began to burn through his clothes. Medic was busy elsewhere on the battlefield, Engie's dispenser had been sapped (time to spycheck more), and Sniper's Jarate was… recharging. Yep, Soldier was pretty sure he was heading for a trip to respawn, and a damned painful one.

Then… blessed coolness. The fire was miraculously gone.

Pyro – the damned firebug himself – where the devil had he come from? Soldier was pretty sure the man was grinning at him beneath his gasmask.

"Get back to work, maggot! Those goddamned RED bastards are still out there! MEDIC!"


	6. Slow Down

Prompt – (57) Slow Down – (6/100)  
Characters – BLU Scout, Medic, Demo  
Word count – 194  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Slow Down

Everything Scout did, he did at full speed, at least everyone joked.

A month into their stay at Dustbowl, Demo sat nursing a cup of coffee before the day's fighting, trying to ease his hangover. Medic was making tea, and Scout had just heaped a mound of sugar-coated cereal into his bowl.

A quick swipe, and Medic's milk that he had set aside for the tea now covered the bowl of crunchy diabetes. The German muttered darkly, angry without his caffeine, and shuffled off to the refrigerator to get another carton.

Scout grinned, then shoeved another spoonful into to cavern that led to the bottomless pit that was his stomach…

And began to choke.

It took a moment for Medic to ralize that the boy wasn't getting air. The boy's face was white with terror, eyes bulging, fingers clutched around his throat.

Surprisingly, it was Demo who responded first. One quick Heimlich maneuver later, and Demo was pushing the limp boy back into his chair.

Medic, still trying to process the situation, gaped for a moment. A slew of German curses followed, and Scout actually looked semi-contrite.

"Next time don't eat so fast, _sweinhund_!"


	7. Lesson

Prompt – (58) Lesson – (7/100)  
Characters – BLU Heavy, Engie  
Word count – 239  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Lesson

Heavy came to Dustbowl speaking just enough English to get by. He would occasionally slip back into his native Russian when excited though, and would continue without realizing it oft times.

The man was by no means stupid, regardless of the clueless look he often sported when people spoke to fast for him to translate. He just had a lack of formal education. Engie realized this one night as he sat in the kitchen, blueprints spread over the table. The firing arc of his level three sentry just wouldn't jive with his calculations. Pyro couldn't figure it out, either, but he was more technical than mathematical.

Heavy wandered through and stopped, eyeing the blueprints. "Why no just raise firing platform? Arc of radius not blocked then."

At Engie's blank stare (he had been working on this for some eighteen hours straight), the larger man picked up a piece of chalk and drew a quick sketch.

"What that say?" Heavy pushed a finger at Engie's writing.

The Texan frowned. "Says 'sentry' partner. It's pretty clear, I thought."

Heavy fidgeted with the chalk, not realizing he broke the thin stick until Engie held his hand out for it.

"No read."

Engie's eyebrows disappeared under the brim of his hardhat. "At all?"

"Nyet. No go to school long enough. Family needed me home."

A glint crossed Engie's eyes. "You're about to learn."

The grin on Heavy's face made the idea well-worth it.


	8. Change in the Weather

Prompt – (78) Change in the Weather (8/100)  
Characters – BLU Sniper, Saxton Hale  
Word count – 107  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Change in the Weather

Bleary-eyed, Sniper finished off his cup of coffee and dropped his mug into the sink. Everything in the camper seemed sticky – the humidity was disgusting.

Ducking into his bedroom, the Australian looked into the deep and mysterious eyes of Saxton Hale, his framed (and autographed!) photo hung prominently on the wall. Even the man in the image looked like he was suffering from the heat – the ends of his mustache seemed to be frizzy beneath the glass.

Grabbing his full jars of Jarate for the day, he sighed after bowing his head in reverence to his Grand Master. The weather couldn't change soon enough for his tastes.


	9. The True You

Prompt – (71) The True You (9/100)  
Characters – Spy  
Word count – 143  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

The True You

He would hole himself up in his room at least once a week, for hours, refining his disguises, working out how long it took to change, perfecting tiny mannerisms. Bordering on fanaticism, he would stand in front of his full-length mirror, looking at faces that weren't his, but _making_ them his own.

When he was finished, he would look at himself maskless, just to remind himself who he really was. Taped on the inside of his hats (his fez and his fedora, his favorites) was a battered picture of himself, for those occasions where one too many blows to the head made it hard to focus.

He forgot sometimes though, especially after long battles, when he walked past reflective surfaces. He would stop and doublecheck to make sure he wasn't still disguised. How embarrassing… a Spy who forgot what he really looked like.


	10. Love

Prompt – (18) Love – (10/100)  
Characters – BLU Spy, RED Soldier  
Word count – 400  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Love

Spy was bored. Therefore, he had decided to practice his profession in the most amusing way possible, and was tailing one of his favorite targets.

It was a Saturday night, late, and he had been in RED's base all day without detection. Their Soldier, a man even more paranoid than their own, was always amusing to follow, if just for the sheer entertainment of the man talking to himself. However, he had been acting strangely all day, even by his standards. Over breakfast, his helmet perched precariously over his eyes, he had asked if anyone had any colored paper. RED Engie had said yes, and had told them man to stop by his shop later. Spy had only caught the tail end of the conversation, but was amused by what could possibly be done with pastel paper.

Solly had nearly fled Engie's shop and Spy picked up his trail just outside. It wasn't really hard to shadow the man; he made a racket everywhere he went. Sliding into his room was a simple task for a spy of Builders League United Spy's talents.

Soldier immediately ducked into the bathroom, paper in hand, after glancing furtively around the room. Sounds of cutting and rustling came through the door, and Spy couldn't for the life of him figure out what was going on. Ear pressed to the door, he was caught off guard and just barely avoided being bowled over as the RED came barreling out. _Thank goodness the cloak was still up_, he thought to himself as he righted himself.

A savage bite to the inside of his cheek was the only thing that kept him from laughing.

Solly was sprawled across his regulation-made bed with his shovel, arm wrapped around the haft like it was a woman's waist.

A card, like one made by a schoolchild, sat on the pillow, something resembling, "Happy Birthday, Shovel!" written in a scrawl across the front.

"Happy birthday, baby!" Solly grimed as he swept his helmet off, much to Spy's shock. Blond hair in a mad disarray shagged over startlingly green eyes as he pressed his lips to the shovel's blade.

It was the strangest relationship he had ever seen, Spy reflected later as he sat in his own base, empty shot glass next to the mostly-empty bottle Demo had pushed onto him. One worthy of getting completely shitfaced so as to forget it.


	11. Failure

Prompt – (23) Failure – (11/100)  
Characters – BLU boys  
Word count – 189  
Disclaimer - Not mine. Gaben, I wish you all the sandviches.  
Author's Note - Prompts from - community/projects/913493. I apologize in advance, but the ETF2L Highlander tournament has done this to me, along with the Polycount update. Also, some of this is total fluff, and I'm a sap for Pyro and Engie.

* * *

Failure

To a man, the boys of BLU were dejected as they limped back to their base for the night.

After a few weeks of thrashing RED on a regular basis, the other team had finally and suddenly gotten their act together and completely rolled BLU. Every single member of RED had domination, and the Medic, Spy, and Demo had multiple. BLU had not a single one, and hadn't managed to cap a single point.

The Announcer had already verbally flayed them as they had left the spawn room, insulting their masculinity, their aim, and suggested that they take up playing tiddlywinks instead.

Medic was especially down – RED Demo, Heavy, and Spy had all dominated him. It had gotten so bad towards the end of the day that he had swapped his übersaw for his brand-new Vita-saw, just in hope of getting a charge before being gibbed. How embarrassing. That, and he had apparently spent half the round healing the enemy Spy.

Scout summed up everyone's feelings as they reached their base, kicking his toe into the concrete step of the entryway. "Dudes, let's not suck so bad tomorrow, 'kay?"


End file.
